football rambles

 Another Cambridge game and another binary score line. Not that I'm complaining however. The Us were without Joe Ironside this time, so they needed somebody else to step up and deliver the 5th win in a row. That man was Adam May. The game was decided just before half time by a wonderful strike from the midfielder. Many had probably expected Sam Smith or Harvey Knibbs to step up, but despite an opportunity that Knibbs wasted, they found it hard to fashion many chances against a resolute Crewe team who are hoping to stave off relegation.   To be honest, Crewe had most of the possession, but at the same time didn't ever really look like scoring. Lowery and Long on their right hand side probably had good games, as I think that Dunk and Brophy on the left for Cambridge seemed to be the busiest over the majority of the game. That said, Crewe are a fairly boring team and it's just a relief that the Us didn't do their usual trick of slipping up against one of the teams that the

 Saturday saw us go on a proper away day on the train and back to Lincoln, which was a bit of a convoluted journey, but fuelled by Estrella and Elvis Juice. The fans, locals and club workers at Lincoln seemed friendly enough, but the policing was a bit over the top. The game itself was entertaining enough, The first half was pretty much all Lincoln and Mitov in particularly did well to keep them out. It was 0-0 at the break though and Cambridge were still in it.  The second half saw Cambridge come out all firing and they were much the better side in the second half. However, it looked like they were about to draw yet another blank until stoppage time when Joey ironside followed up on his own rebounded shot to head home and send the Cambridge fans home happy. One thing that I would really like to see, but I am not sure if many Cambridge fans would agree with me, would be to see Harvey Knibbs start ahead of Sam Smith in the next game at home to Crewe. This was a massive improvement on th

 On Saturday we went to what was probably one of the lesser glamorous ties in the FA Cup Third Round, as Peterborough, who are struggling in the Championship took on League 2 Bristol Rovers, both teams had been hit by Covid outbreaks, so had missed quite a few games going into this one. for a number of reasons, this was my first trip to London Road since November 2019 when the Posh beat Burton in League 1. Recently, we have been following Cambridge more and ironically they had the glamour tie of  Newcastle away, which they won 1-0. Meanwhile at London Road, Peterborough were quick getting out of the blocks and Bristol Rovers also looked pretty determined. Neither team looked like they were  particularly rusty. It did however take Peterborough a while to put together a proper attack and force a goal. Well, 20 minutes, but to be honest I had been expecting quite an easy win! Sammy Szmodics, who was on great form scored the opening goal and he was causing all sorts of problems alongside S

 Another game in which Cambridge failed to score, but they are probably happier about a 0-0 draw than Portsmouth, who would have hoped for promotion this year, but are currently in 9th. Going into the game both teams had been on an extended break over Christmas due to Covid outbreaks, but they both seemed ready for the fight and it really was a game of grit. Both sides had chances and Cambridge were probably the better team in the first half, although Portsmouth looked the more likely in the second half and dominated possession throughout the game. There were some brutal tackles throughout the game and Sam Smith of Cambridge made a tricky task for the Us even harder when he caught a Ogilvie with a stray elbow. Both players led with the elbow, but the Pompey defender came off the worst and as Sam Smith was already on a yellow, he was given his marching orders on the hour mark. This led to the introduction of Harvey Knibbs, who I'd like to see get a start at some point in the not dis